“I see...”
Liene said, still holding Black’s hand tightly.
“I should have asked you earlier.”
“My mouth wouldn’t have opened then.”
Manau said he had intended to bury the past.
Just as Black had not returned to the name Fernand Gainers, there was no reason for the name Gainers to be revived in Nauk.
He intended to bury the tragedy of the Gainers royal family and the sins of the Kleinfelter family as they were.
He believed that was the way to protect Nauk.
“I also realized it too late. No sin simply disappears.”
A sin that went unpunished was one that he did not know was a sin until the very end.
The reason Ternan Kleinfelter defiled the temple again was that he had not been able to atone for his sins.
Manau realized this fact after 21 years. He knew that it was time to atone for all his sins.
“I intend to return the temple to a place where no worldly power can reach. I believe that is why the god has tenaciously kept this life alive.”
A sin that went unpunished was one that he did not know was a sin until the very end.
The reason Ternan Kleinfelter defiled the temple again was that he had not been able to atone for his sins.
Manau realized this fact after 21 years. He knew that it was time to atone for all his sins.
“I intend to return the temple to a place where no worldly power can reach. I believe that is why the god has tenaciously kept this life alive.”
“I believe that too.”
Manau’s long story did not end there.
“So there must be a reason why the power to control water that the Gainers royal family protected has lost its lineage.”
The only remaining eye looked at Black deeply and sternly.
“It was a great power that humans should not have. The god must have taken that power away. Please, please return that power to the god. The disease that has been passed down through the Gainers royal family along with the god’s power must ultimately be the god’s will to take back the power that was taken away.”
“That is nonsense.”
Liene shook her head.
“How can the High Priest say such a thing? You know how many people have died and left Nauk in the past 20 years. A land without water is a land that cannot be inhabited. The gods have taken it away. Does that mean that the gods want Nauk to dry up and die like this?”
“Humans cannot judge the will of the Gods, Princess.”
“I cannot accept such a will. It is no different from telling us to die together.”
“If that is the will of the gods, then we must follow it.”
“Where is such a god?”
Liene screamed. Her voice, filled with anger and resentment that had dried up along the river for 20 years, was painful to the ears.
“Yes, there is no such god.”
The one who answered firmly on Manau’s behalf was, unexpectedly, Fermos.
“A god would not make a device to make it rain, but hide it. The Gainers royal family created it. In that sense, I think I know what the curse of the Gainers royal family is.”
“What?”
Liene's eyes widened.
Black gripped Liene's hand tightly. The hand that was always warm was tense and cold.
"What is that?"
The voice asking this question cracked roughly.
"It must be a genius disease."
It was the first time Liene had heard of the disease. Werose and Manau were the same.
"It's a disease that appears in people who are too smart. There's someone I know... Oh, I guess there's no need to hide it. My uncle suffered from the disease. I heard that my grandfather died young from the same disease."
Most of Fermos's family members were smart.
He was also incredibly smart since childhood, but he couldn't surpass his uncle.
His uncle's knowledge system was vast. His uncle easily crossed over areas that others had to study for their entire lives.
However, knowledge that was too vast could easily become tangled. At some point, everything in his uncle's head became a tangled mess.
"That's because he sees things that others can't see and hears things that others can't hear."
Fermos watched his uncle die little by little every day. The death of his uncle was bitter but understandable.
It was only natural that his body would be burdened, for he was a person who lived with another, very complicated world in his head.
“That disease... is it incurable?”
Manau’s long story did not end there.
“So there must be a reason why the power to control water that the Gainers royal family protected has lost its lineage.”
The only remaining eye looked at Black deeply and sternly.
“It was a great power that humans should not have. The god must have taken that power away. Please, please return that power to the god. The disease that has been passed down through the Gainers royal family along with the god’s power must ultimately be the god’s will to take back the power that was taken away.”
“That is nonsense.”
Liene shook her head.
“How can the High Priest say such a thing? You know how many people have died and left Nauk in the past 20 years. A land without water is a land that cannot be inhabited. The gods have taken it away. Does that mean that the gods want Nauk to dry up and die like this?”
“Humans cannot judge the will of the Gods, Princess.”
“I cannot accept such a will. It is no different from telling us to die together.”
“If that is the will of the gods, then we must follow it.”
“Where is such a god?”
Liene screamed. Her voice, filled with anger and resentment that had dried up along the river for 20 years, was painful to the ears.
“Yes, there is no such god.”
The one who answered firmly on Manau’s behalf was, unexpectedly, Fermos.
“A god would not make a device to make it rain, but hide it. The Gainers royal family created it. In that sense, I think I know what the curse of the Gainers royal family is.”
“What?”
Liene's eyes widened.
Black gripped Liene's hand tightly. The hand that was always warm was tense and cold.
"What is that?"
The voice asking this question cracked roughly.
***
"It must be a genius disease."
It was the first time Liene had heard of the disease. Werose and Manau were the same.
"It's a disease that appears in people who are too smart. There's someone I know... Oh, I guess there's no need to hide it. My uncle suffered from the disease. I heard that my grandfather died young from the same disease."
Most of Fermos's family members were smart.
He was also incredibly smart since childhood, but he couldn't surpass his uncle.
His uncle's knowledge system was vast. His uncle easily crossed over areas that others had to study for their entire lives.
However, knowledge that was too vast could easily become tangled. At some point, everything in his uncle's head became a tangled mess.
"That's because he sees things that others can't see and hears things that others can't hear."
Fermos watched his uncle die little by little every day. The death of his uncle was bitter but understandable.
It was only natural that his body would be burdened, for he was a person who lived with another, very complicated world in his head.
“That disease... is it incurable?”
Liene asked hastily.
Fermos smiled at the two people who had very similar faces.
“I don’t know either. But one thing is certain. My lord will not have genius disease.”
“Can you guarantee it? Can I believe that?”
“Yes. You can believe it. Genius disease is not a disease that suddenly appears one day. It is a disease that has been with you since birth, and the symptoms continue to worsen as you grow up. If my lord had the disease, I would have noticed it long ago. And to be honest, I am smarter than my lord. There is no way my lord would have a disease that I don’t have.”
The last words were a joke.
They were meant to comfort Liene, who seemed about to burst into tears at any moment.
“...I don’t want to hear that in front of the Princess.”
Black took Fermos’s words lightly.
Liene let out a sob.
“What on earth are you talking about! Even if Sir Fermos is ten times smarter than you, you should be happy!”
Black hugged Liene affectionately.
“Don’t cry.”
“Huh? I won’t cry.”
“If the Princess will accept it, I don’t mind being a stupid person. So don’t cry.”
“I said I won’t cry. And really... being stupid is much better. That’s much much better...”
Liene, who had said she wouldn’t cry, burst into tears at that moment.
Black patted Liene as if he had expected her to cry.
“Yes, I think so too.”
“It’s much... much better. Really, it’s so good...”
It seemed like no one would cry so loudly while saying something good.
“I like it too.”
That’s why he said it was good.
Black wiped Liene’s face, whose nose was red from crying, with his sleeve. Werose watched her with his mouth shut.
***
There was another reason why Fermos wanted to see Manau.
The temple contained the oldest map in Nauk.
Instead of getting angry at the statement that there was no such thing as divine power or curse, Manau led them to the map.
The map was kept in a stone chamber in the center of the Great Hall, pushed aside by the altar.
It was not just a map, but a map known as a sacred relic of the gods.
The reason was that it preserved the original form of the land that the gods had granted to Nauk.
“Before I present the sacred relic to the eyes of humans..."
Manau began speaking at the entrance to the stone chamber hidden under the altar.
“I need you to promise me that what I am doing is not turning my back on the gods.”
Fermos nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“It will be proven that neither the abundance nor the drought of Nauk are related to the curse of the gods. However, one thing is on my mind. Is it really okay for you, my lord, to reveal the secret of the Gainers royal family?”
Black did not hesitate either.
“It was a secret that should have been revealed someday. It was ridiculous for one family to monopolize water. That’s why rats like Klinefelter were swarming around.”
“Hmm... I think it’s a bit of a shame, but I can’t deny that.”
As long as the secret was kept, the ruling power of the Gainers royal family had to be solid. But reality wasn’t like that.
There were no eternal secrets, no eternal glory. There were no eternal Gods or eternal Kings.
So all they had to do was choose the best path for this moment that wasn’t eternal.
Liene grabbed Black’s hand and held it.
“I believe you’re right.”
Black pressed his lips to Liene’s forehead as usual.
“Whatever’s good for the Princess is always the right path for me.”
“Oh, really...”
Liene muttered something.
Everyone pretended not to hear the small remark that he shouldn’t say that kind of thing anywhere.
“Then I’ll open the door.”
Creak.
Manau opened the stone chamber door with difficulty with his shaky hands.
No one offered to help. This door was the one that only the high priest could open.
“Go in.”
Manau went ahead. The chamber wasn’t very deep. It was just high enough that Black had to bend his head slightly.
“This is the first map.”
Manau opened a chest in the chamber and took out a large map.
The map, which was not written on paper but engraved with thread on cloth, made a rustling sound as each layer was unfolded.
“What an incredible map.”
Manau opened a chest in the chamber and took out a large map.
The map, which was not written on paper but engraved with thread on cloth, made a rustling sound as each layer was unfolded.
“What an incredible map.”
Fermos’s eyes lit up.
“To think that such a map could be made in the old days. The glory that Nauk enjoyed so far must not have been a coincidence.”
Everyone held their breath and looked at the map spread out on the floor of the chamber.
Fermos sat down on the floor and leaned his head in.
“What is this thing that the Gainers royal family made?”
Everyone held their breath and looked at the map spread out on the floor of the chamber.
Fermos sat down on the floor and leaned his head in.
“What is this thing that the Gainers royal family made?”
Manau asked.
“Here.”
Fermos answered by pointing to the other side, which was not drawn on the map.
“There’s nothing there.”
“Isn’t this the east?”
“That’s... oh, right. That’s the east.”
“Isn’t there a mountain range here? Probably, incredibly high.”
Those who lived only in Nauk widened their eyes at those words.
“How did you know that?”
“That’s right. That’s where the Erendira Mountains, called the land of the gods, are located.”
Fermos nodded with a grin.
“I thought it was only here.”
“What?”
Liene’s words became faster with excitement.
“Is that device there? No, wasn’t it behind the waterfall? How could it be in the Erendira Mountains? It’s too dangerous for humans to go there.”
“Of course.”
Fermos’s answer also became faster.
He couldn’t help but get excited when something that had only existed in his head as a guess was revealed.
“Then?”
“As you’ve found out, Nauk doesn’t have much rain. The place with a lot of rain is probably the Erendira Mountains.”
The Erendira Mountains, which divided the southern part of the continent into east and west, were incredibly high. They were so high that clouds were hanging halfway up the mountain.
“Everyone knows that clouds bring rain. Since the clouds can’t go over the mountains, the rain won’t either.”
“Ah...”
“Then this mountain range must hold a lot of water. If the mountain range is this high, and we find a path connecting it to Nauk...”
Fermos moved his finger that was outside the map to the inside of the map.
“It connects to nine waterfalls.”
“Oh my!”
Liene shouted so loudly that the stone chamber shook.
Manau and Werose were equally excited.
For those born and raised in Nauk, the most important thing was always water.
“Do you know the legend of Aliham Palace, my lord?”
“I know.”
Liene vaguely knew it too. It was a very old story, just like the map of God.
“Aliham is a castle built on top of a mountain. Since the sun was hot and dry all year round, they had no choice but to build a palace on top of a mountain. However, there was a problem. It was difficult to bring the enormous amount of water used in the large palace every day. So King Abbas, the owner of Aliham Palace, offered a sacrifice to God, and God sent a messenger. The messenger performed a miracle of bringing water flowing from the river below the mountain to the palace on top of the mountain, and then disappeared.”
It probably wasn’t a miracle.
At the time, it was nothing but a miracle.
“The legend of the Palace of Aliham is older than the founding of Nauk. I somehow think the name of the messenger of that god was Gainers.”
At the time, it was nothing but a miracle.
“The legend of the Palace of Aliham is older than the founding of Nauk. I somehow think the name of the messenger of that god was Gainers.”
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